


Insomnia Buddies

by Kamemor



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 18:33:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8171672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamemor/pseuds/Kamemor
Summary: Harry can't sleep, and it turns out that neither can Cisco. Normally, just the two of them in the Cortex would lead to enthusiastic bickering, but tonight? Declaring a truce doesn't sound like the most terrible idea. (Cross-posted from Tumblr.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [squireofgeekdom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/squireofgeekdom/gifts).



> Written for a brotp prompt on Tumblr, as requested by squireofgeekdom.
> 
> “This is without a doubt the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me…Am I about to die?” 
> 
> (Original post here: http://philcoulsonismyhero.tumblr.com/post/148212271106/harry-cisco-24 )

Harry couldn’t sleep. This was nothing new. He hadn’t been sleeping properly since that awful day when Zoom had taken Jesse. First it had been nightmares about what that monster was doing to her, and then it was nightmares about her being dead. Then he’d gotten Jesse back, and he still couldn’t sleep because he was terrified that if he closed his eyes she would disappear again. **  
**

And then she actually had disappeared again, running away because she couldn’t understand the things he had been forced to do to get her back, and would do all over again in a heartbeat if it meant she was safe. So now he had the double worries of her safety and whether she had been right to leave eating away at him. So, sleep was a problem.

Lying in bed, he watched the clock tick over to 2am and sighed. This wasn’t working. So, now he had a choice to make. His usual solutions to being unable to sleep were to go for a run in the hope that it would tire him out enough to ignore his thoughts, or to drown out the thoughts in question by working on a problem that he actually _could_ solve. Trying his best not to look at Jesse’s empty bed, he kicked off the covers and sat up. Earlier, he’d been working on adapting the prototype tachyon generator into something that could be attached to Barry’s suit, so he decided that was his best bet as a distraction.

Not bothering to change his clothes, beyond retrieving his glasses and pulling some socks on so his feet didn’t freeze, Harry padded out of his room and down the corridor to the elevator that would take him to the Cortex. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the elevator panels and rolled his eyes. He looked like death warmed up, and that was being generous. Running on coffee and next to no sleep would do that to a person.

He stepped out of the lift when the doors opened, and frowned. Was that a light coming from the Cortex? He pulled a face. Harry was pretty certain he knew exactly who was responsible for that light, and what he would find when he rounded the corner into the Cortex itself.

Sure enough, he found exactly what he had expected: Cisco, half sliding out of a desk chair and sprawled across one of the work surfaces, fitfully asleep. Harry sighed. He’d almost lost count of how many times he’d ended up in the Cortex late at night, only to find that Cisco hadn’t gone home yet or had fallen asleep in the lab. The poor kid had an even worse track record with sleep than he did, and that was saying something.

Falling into a familiar routine, Harry crossed to one of the cabinets in the side lab and retrieved a blanket and pillow that he kept stashed there for this exact occurrence. Careful not to wake him, he slid the pillow under Cisco’s head and draped the blanket over his shoulders. The first time he’d found Cisco asleep like this, he’d considered waking him up and sending him home. But he knew from his own experience that having to fall asleep again when one had had problems the first time was much worse than waking up with a sore back from an awkward sleeping position. Trying to pull overnighters back in college had taught him that one, and his recent problems with sleep had only reinforced it.

Satisfied that Cisco was slightly more comfortable that he would otherwise have been, Harry retreated back into the side lab to work on the tachyon device. Maybe he’d be lucky and fall asleep at his desk the same as Cisco.

* * *

However, an hour or so later, and Harry had only succeeded in getting himself engrossed in the modifications to the tachyon device. Instead of tiring him out, thinking about the problem had kicked his brain into a higher gear, and that meant he probably wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight at all. On the plus side, he was making serious progress with the modifications, even with the restrictions caused by the need to be quiet so as not to wake Cisco.

It was at this point, however, that Cisco started mumbling in his sleep. Harry sighed, and did his best to tune it out, but the odd words that he was picking up had him worried.

“ _Reverse Flash… killed Nora… help you.._.” Cisco started shaking at this point, and Harry suddenly realised exactly what he must be dreaming about. He froze, not sure what to do about it. Did he risk waking him up? Or should he wait for the nightmare to pass? But the decision was taken out of his hands when Cisco yelled and jolted upright, clutching at his chest, knocking the blanket to the floor and scooting his chair away from the desk. Harry abandoned the tachyon device and crossed into the main lab in a few long strides. He put his hands on Cisco’s shoulders and shook him gently. Cisco’s head whipped up and he stared at Harry, breathing heavily and with fear in his eyes.

“Hey, hey, breathe. It was just a dream. You’re okay.” Cisco started to take deep breaths and the panic slowly faded from his face. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to fall out of his chair and hurt himself, Harry let go of his shoulders and reached down to pick the blanket off the floor. “Stand up,” he told Cisco, who was still a bit too out of it to do anything but obey. Harry thrust the blanket into his arms. “Take this, and follow me.”

“What?” asked Cisco, blearily.

“Just do it, Cisco.” Cisco hugged the blanket to his chest and followed Harry out of the Cortex.

* * *

Less than five minutes later, Cisco was sitting in one of the chairs in his workroom, with the blanket draped around his shoulders and a mug of hot chocolate clutched in his hands. He was properly awake now, and looking on in amusement as Harry watched his own mug rotating in the microwave in order to avoid talking to him. The initial rush of parental instincts had faded, and now Harry wasn’t entirely sure what to do about the whole situation.

“Thanks, Harry,” said Cisco. Harry didn’t turn around, but he could hear the genuine gratitude in his voice. He waved a hand in a ‘think nothing of it’ sort of gesture. After a pause, Cisco spoke up again. “So, how come you’re up at this time of night? I can’t have woken you up.” Harry gave a small, bitter chuckle, and looked over his shoulder.

“Let’s just say you’re not the only one having trouble sleeping recently.” Cisco snorted.

“You sure ’recently’ is the right word?” he said. Harry raised a wry eyebrow.

“You may have a point there.” The microwave beeped, and Harry retrieved his own mug of hot chocolate. It wasn’t something he drank very often, but tonight seemed to call for it. He dragged a chair into an appropriate position with his free hand and sat down, heavily. Suddenly, Cisco burst out laughing. “What?”

“You’re… you’re wearing a- pffff- _Grumpy Cat t-shirt_ ,” he managed to wheeze out between giggles. Harry looked down at his chest. So he was. He’d forgotten about that. He felt his face flush slightly.  

“Oh, uh, Jesse. She, um, said she saw it and thought of me.” Cisco giggled, and Harry couldn’t help but smile slightly himself. It was a bit ridiculous. He wasn’t exactly prone to wearing graphic t-shirts, after all, and the fact that this particular t-shirt bore an image of a very disgruntled looking cat with the large caption “NO” meant that it was entertaining even without the context.

“You should have seen the way her face lit up when I introduced her to Grumpy Cat,” Cisco grinned. Harry raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, so I’ve got you to blame for this, then?”

“I’ll happily take that blame, man. It’s worth it just to see you in that shirt.” Harry glared at him exaggeratedly and Cisco sniggered again.

They fell into a strangely companionable silence as they both nursed their hot chocolate, benefiting from the warmth as much as anything. STAR Labs really did get cold at night. Cisco, never one to savour sugary food or beverages, finished his mug first. Harry held his half-finished hot chocolate out in a silent question. Cisco gave him a weird look.

“I’m not gonna finish it,” Harry clarified, but Cisco shook his head and kept looking at Harry in bemusement. “What?”

“Am I dying or something?” Now it was Harry’s turn to give him a look. “I’m serious. This is the nicest you’ve ever been to me, and I’m starting to get worried that you know something I don’t.” Harry opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but then reconsidered.

“You’re not dying. As far as I know.”

“Thanks,” interjected Cisco sarcastically.

“Do you always have to interrupt me? Don’t answer that,” he said quickly, as Cisco opened his mouth again. “Look, Cisco… Sleep is hard. I get that. I’m not going to make a bad night worse if I can help it.”

“Oh.” Cisco seemed surprised at that response, and Harry begrudgingly admitted to himself that he hadn’t exactly given Cisco cause to think him capable of being considerate. “Thanks, Harry. I… really appreciate that.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“What, worried it’ll ruin your reputation if I go blabbing about how you’re really a big softie who makes people hot chocolate when they have nightmares?”

“Shut up, Ramon.” Cisco laughed.

“There he is! Welcome back, Grumpy Cat.” Harry snorted. Their bickering status quo had been restored, it seemed.

“I was working on the tachyon device before you woke up. You want to come and irritate me while I keep doing that?”

“Actually… could we just sit here for a while?” Harry paused for a second, and then nodded. He had a pretty good idea of why Cisco would really rather not work on the tachyon device, derived as it was from the Reverse Flash’s tech. Cisco looked relieved, and then his gaze dropped to the mug that was still in Harry’s hands. “That hot chocolate still on offer?” Harry handed it over, and they fell back into a companionable silence.

Sitting there in the semi-darkness with nothing to distract him, Harry felt the familiar worries creeping back in. But he glanced over at Cisco and couldn’t help but feel that things weren’t entirely terrible. It was a completely irrational thought, because things were objectively no better than they had been a few hours earlier, and yet… And yet. Harry smiled to himself. As sleepless nights went, maybe this one wasn’t so bad.


End file.
